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Phoebe Hesketh
Phoebe Hesketh (29 January 1909 – 25 February 2005) was an English poet, notable for her poems depicting nature. Life Hesketh was born in Preston, Lancashire. Her father was the pioneer radiologist Arthur E. Rayner; her mother was a violinist in the Hallé Orchestra. Among her aunts was the suffragette Edith Rigby. She was educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College, but left at the age of 17 to care for her ill mother. She married Aubrey Hesketh, the director of a mill, in 1931 at the age of 22 and they then lived in Rivington, Lancashire. Her first collection, Poems, was published in 1939 by Sherratt & Hughes, Manchester, although she would later disown this work to some extent. During World War II Hesketh worked as woman's page editor of the Bolton Evening News. In 1948 she published her second volume, Lean Forward, Spring!, a book that earned her widespread acclaim amongst the literary community, including from Siegfried Sassoon. Throughout her career she would produce 16 books and, although she never achieved popular success, was championed by several well-known figures including Sassoon, Roy Campbell, and Al Alvarez. After the War she was a freelance lecturer, poetry teacher and journalist, producing many articles for journals and scripts for the BBC. Her collected poems were gathered together in Netting the Sun: new and collected poems (1989). Her poetry for younger readers was published in A Song of Sunlight (1974) and in Six of the Best (1989). For almost all of her life she lived in Lancashire, in a landscape frequently described in her poetry, and also in her prose books Rivington (1972) and Village of the Mountain Ash (1990). From her marriage until she was widowed she lived at Rivington, and afterwards at Heath Charnock. She wrote a biography of her aunt Edith Rigby, published in 1966. The Heskeths had three children. One of her poems describes the death of her young son. Recognition Hesketh was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1956.Phoebe Hesketh, Enitharmon Press. Web, Sep. 21, 2014. She became a Fellow of the University of Central Lancashire in 1990. Publications Poetry *''Poems''. Manchester: Sherratt & Hughes, 1939. *''Lean Forward, Spring! Poems''. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1948. *''No Time for Cowards''. London: Heinemann, 1952. *''Out of the Dark: New poems''. London: Heinemann, 1954. *''Between Wheels and Stars: Verse''. London: Heinemann, 1956. *''The Buttercup Children''. London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1958. *''Prayer for Sun''. London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1966. *''Preparing to Leave: Poems''. London: Enitharmon, 1977. *''The Eighth Day: Selected poems, 1948-1978''. London: Enitharmon, 1980. *''A Ring of Leaves''. Birmingham, UK: Hayloft Press, 1985. *''Over the Brook''. Leicester, UK: Taxus, 1986. *1989: Six of the Best. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. (Poems) *''Netting the Sun: New and collected poems''. Petersfield, UK: Enitharmon, 1989. *''Sundowner''. London: Enitharmon, 1992. *''The Leave Train: New and selected poems''. London: Enitharmon, 1984. *''A Box of Silver Birch''. London: Enitharmon, 1997. Non-fiction *''My Aunt Edith''. London: Peter Davies, 1966. *''Rivington: The story of a village''. London: Peter Davies, 1972. *''What Can the Matter Be?. Penzance, Cornwall, UK: United Writers, 1985. *''Rivington: village of the mountain ash. Preston, Lancashire, UK: Carnegie, 1990. Juvenile *''A Song of Sunlight'' (verse). London: Chatto & Windus, 1974. *''Six of the Best'' (verse). Harmondsworth, UK: Puffin, 1989.>Phoebe Hesketh, Enitharmon Press. Web, Sep. 21, 2014. .Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Phoebe Hesketh, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 21, 2014. Audio / video *''Phoebe Hesketh'' (audiocassette). London: British Council, 1967. References External links ;Poems *Phoebe Hesketh at AllPoetry (6 poems) ;About *Phoebe Hesketh at Enitharmon Press *Phoebe Hesketh obituary at The Guardian *Phoebe Hesketh obituary at The Independent Category:1909 births Category:2005 deaths Category:English poets Category:English women writers Category:People associated with the University of Central Lancashire Category:People from Preston, Lancashire Category:Women poets Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets